Steam gage and alarm



2 Sheefis-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

A. PORTILLO. STEAM GAGE AND ALARM.

No, 291,769 Patented Jan. 8, 1884.

fiufawior duywslwl orlz'llo,

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

A. PORTILLO.

STEAM GAGE AND ALARM.

(No Model.)

Patented Jan. 8, 1884.

UNrrr: STATES ATENT FFIQEO AUGUSTUS PORTILLO, OF LO\VELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

STEAM GAGE AND ALARM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 291,769, dated January8, 1884.

Application filed October 18, 1883.

To aZZ whom iv may concern:

. Be it known that I, AUeUsrUs PORTILLO, a citizen of Mexico, residingat Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Steam Gages and Alarms, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to steam pressure gages, and has for its object toproduce, by a simple and efficient construction, a gage that will bothindicate the pressure in the boiler and sound an alarm when the pressureexceeds a predetermined limit, the construction being such that it maybe applied to steamgages already in use; and it consists in a primaryand asecondary index-hand and an alarmbell, combined in such a mannerthat the secondary hand may be set to indicate the predeterminedpressure, and the alarm sounded when the primary hand reaches on thescale, by reason of the steam-pressure, the pounds pressure indicated bythe secondary hand, the details of which means I will now proceed todescribe.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a front view of the gage with myimprovements applied; Fig. 2, a similar view with the face of the gagere moved; Fig. 3, a'detailed perspective view of the springplate,pinion, scapement-wheel, and pallet.

In the drawings, the letter A indicates the case provided with the faceB, having thereon the scale of pressure, and containing the spring-tubeC, segmental rack D, connectinglink E, pinion F, meshing with the rack,and primary index-hand G, all of which parts are of the ordinaryconstruction and application,

and therefore need not be more fully described. I secure, by screws orother means, to the inside of the back of the case, and in proximity tothe segmental rack, a spring metallic plate, H, which is curved orformed so that it will be slightly above the back of the 'case and freefrom contact therewith from its rivetingpoint, or a point in advancethereof, forward to its front or free end, where it is provided with apin, I, which projects at right angles to the face of the spring-plate.A post, J,

is passed through the back of the case and through the spring-plateintermediate of its ends, and is provided near its inner end with (N0model.)

a laterally-extending pin, K, and at its end with an angular shoulderfor the attachment of the secondary index-hand L, which projects overthe pin, and for the application of a key to turn" the post. WVhile thepost may be turned by the application of a key or other tool, still itfits tight enough not to be accidentally turned, and for those purposesit may be secured either by fitting snugly in the opening made in theback therefor, or by the application thereto of a spring pawl andratchet, or otherwise, as may be found most desirable; but in GWBTY casethe springplate will be free to slide to some degree thereon. A pinion,M,

is fitted loosely around the post between the pin K thereof and thespring-plate, so as to be free to turn without moving the post, and itsteeth mesh with those of the segment-rack. This pinion is provided 011its face with a collar, N, the exposed face of which is either incontact with the under side of pin K or in close proximity thereto, andprovided with a lug or cam, 01, the face of which cam is preferablyflattened; but it may be made pointed or rounded.

If desired, a spring, I), may be made to encircle the post J between theplate i, below the dial-plate, and a collar, 9', 011 the post just belowthe dial-p1ate, so as to have a tendency to press the port upward, andthereby hold its head 7; tightly against the back plate of the case, soas to increase the friction between the two parts and render the postmore difficult to turn; but such construction is not essential, and maybe omitted.

A post, 0, is pivoted in the case, and is provided with a tripping arm,P, which normally bears against the side of pin I on the spring-plate;and it is further provided with an arm, Q, at the end of which isa'hammer, q, that strikes against a gong, R, secured, preferably, to theperiphery of the ease. The post 0 is also provided with the verge S,which engages with the scape-wheel T, which forms one member of a trainof clock-work mechanism of ordinary and well-known construction, andembracing the cog-wheels U and V, the barrel-pinions a r, and spring WV.If de-' sired, the cog-wheel V might be omitted and the cog-wheel U madeto mesh directly with the pinion v but, as stated, any ordinaryclock-alarm mechanism suitable for the purpose may be employed, andtherefore it need not be described in detail.

The secondary indeX-handL has on the face of the casea dialcorresponding in scale to that of the primary index-hand. In this i11-stance both scales registering one hundred and eighty pounds pressure,and the connection of the pinions of the two index-hands suming that theprimary index-hand and the cam of the secondary hand are in their'normalpositions opposite zero of their respective scales, and that the limitof pressure, for purpose of illustration only, is thirty pounds, theprimary index-hand will be set opposite the scale of 30 on its dial bymeans of a key or other means. Then if the pressure of steam be raisedto thirty pounds, the primary indexhand will indicate that pressure onits scale, and the cam on the secondary index-hand pinion will be forcedagainst the pin extending laterally from the post of the secondary hand,and,as such is rigid and immovable as against the pressure of the cam,the latter will be pressed under the pin and force down the pinion so asto depress the springplate and free the pin at the end thereof fromcontact with the arm extending from the pallet-post. The resistance tothe pressure of the clockwork spring being thus removed, that springexerts its motive power on the train of clock-work and sets the same inmotion, so that through it the verge and its post are oscillated and thehammer caused to strike the bell and sound the alarm. The alarmcontinues to'be sounded until the cam passes from under the pin, whenthe spring-plate will throw upward its pin into the line of movement ofthe arm extending from the Verge-post, so as to check its oscillationand stop the sounding of the alarm. The length of time that the alarnrwill be sounded depends on the length of the cam or on the time taken toreduce the steampressure.

Instead of forming the cam above the face of the collar, the latter mayhave a notch or recess made in its face and the spring constructed andapplied so as at all times to exert an upward pressure against thelaterallyextending pin, and the pin at the end of the plate applied soas to extend downwardly and bear against the verge-post arm, instead ofupwardly. Under such modification when the notch should reach thelateral pin the spring would force the pin upward, the pin at the endthereof would be carried from the vergepost arm,and the verge allowed tooscillate to give the alarm, as in the other case.

There may be departures from the construction of the several partsdescribed and from their arrangement without departing from the spiritof my invention, which consists, mainly, in combining a Bourdonsteam-tube, a primary indexhand, a secondary index-hand adapted toapredetermined pressure and alarm. mechanism in such manner that thealarm will be sounded when the primary index-hand registers the pressureat which the secondary index-hand has been set. One modification, asillustrated in Fig. 4, consists in extending the post of the vergethrough the dial-plate and securing thereto the secondary indexhand,which will have the scale as in the other form. The verge and hammerwill be connected with the post, so as to turn therewith. The index-handin this modification will be connected with a sleeve encircling thevergepost, to the lower end of which sleeve there will be attached abevel-gear, a, which will mesh with a bevelear b connected to the,

case by an arm and collar or fork, so thatit may be free to revolve andoscillate, but not to slide vertically. Through the gear 1/ a threadedshaft, 0, will pass and then extend through the verge-post and bepermitted to slide but not turn therein by means of a pin passed throughthe post and into a groove made longitudinally in the shaft, and whenthe gear I) is revolx ed by turning the indexhand to set it, the shaft 0will be caused to rise or fall, according as the index-hand is turned inone direction or the other. There will be rigidly connected to theexpansible steam-tube an arm, (I, which will extend into such proximityto the shaft 0 that the latter cannot oscillate until the arm is movedabove the end of the said shaft. The length of the shaft 0 and itsadjustments with reference to the movement of the secondary index-handare such that the distance the arm will have to travel. to pass the endof the shaft will be in proportion to the pressure of steam requisite toreach the number of pounds pressure indicated by the secondaryindex-hand on its dial. When the arm passes the end of the shaft, theverge will oscillate and the alarm be sounded. It will be observed thatthe secondary index-hand in this modification will be set and remainfixed as in the first-described con struction. Vhen this modifiedconstruction is used, the spring-plate, pinion, and arm con necting thepallet-post with said plate are omitted. Such is the case also when theconstruction in Fig. 5 is used. In this last modification the verge-postshown in Fig. 3 will be used and there will be extended upwardly from itan arm, 0, against which there will abut or extend in close proximitythereto a rearwardlyextended arm connected with the secondaryindex-hand. The index-hand in this case will be connected by athumbscrew, f, to the vertical arm 9, connected rigidly to thesteamtube, and a vertical slot in the dial-plate of the case will permitthe index-hand to be adjusted higher or lower upon said arm, so as tobring the rear end of the index-hand nearer to or farther from the upperend of the arm 0. A scale corresponding in divisions to the otherscales, but in this instance made vertical instead of circular, will beformed along the edge of the slot, and will descend numerically,

so that, for instance, if the alarm is to be given at thirty poundspressure, the index liand will be set opposite the figure 30 on thescale, and then the pressure of steam must be sufficient to expand thetube so as to raise the indexhand from 30 to zero, when the index-handwill have passed the end of the arm e and the alarm sounded by theoscillation o'fthe pallet. It will thus be seen that in this form, asthe secondary index-hand moves with the expansion of the gage-tube andthe hand is set to a predetermined pressure, the approach to thatpressure will be indicated by the approach of the hand to zero on thescale.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is k 1. Thecombination, with a Bourdon pressure-gage and its primary index-hand, ofa secondary index-hand adapted to be set at a predetermined pressure, analarm, means for connecting both hands with the extensible steam-tube ofthe gage, and means for releasing the striking mechanism when theprimary index hand registers the pressure at which the secondaryindex-hand has been set, whereby the movement of the primary indexhandand the sounding of the alarm are controlled from the eXpansiblcsteam-tube, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with a Bourdon pressure-gage and its primaryindex-hand, of the movable post provided with a secondary index-handadapted to be set at a predetermined pressure, a pinion mounted looselyon said post and meshing with the sector-rack of the gage, a camoperated from the loose pinion, an alarm and mechanism for striking thesame, a plate engaging with a portion of the alarm mechanism'to preventits movement, and a projection for the said cam to operate 011 torelease the alarm mechanism and cause the alarm to be sounded when thepredetermined pressure is reached, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the primary in dex-hand, its pinion,steam-tube, and sector- .rack of a pressure -gage, of a post, aprojection extending laterally therefrom, a secondary index-hand mountedon the post over the said projection, a pinion fitted loosely on thesaid post, a cam between thepinion and projection of the post, adaptedto vary the distance between the pinion and said projection, aspringplate beneath the pinion, provided with a pin at one end, apostcarrying a hammer, verge, and arm engaging with the pin on thespring-plate, the gong, and the train of clockwork mechanism,substantially as described.

4. "he post provided with the lateral projection and secondaryindex-hand adapted to be set to a predetermined pressure, the pinionmountedloosely on the post and carrying the cam, and the spring-plate,in combination with the primary index-hand, an alarm, and mechanism foroperating the several parts when the predetermined pressure is reached,substantially as described.

5. The combination of the sector-rack, the primary index-hand and itspinion meshing with the rack, the post carrying the secondaryindex-hand, the pinion mounted loosely on said post and meshing with thesectorrack, the cam operated from the pinion, and a projection for thecam to operate to slide the said pinion for the purpose of operating analarm-striking mechanism, substantially as described.

6. The combination,with a Bourdon steamgage, of the post provided withthe hammer and tripping-arm, an alarm gong, a scapewheel operating theverge, a secondary index-hand adapted to be set at a predeterminedpressure, a primary index-hand connected with the expansible tube of thegage, and means operated from the said expansible tube for tripping thearm to cause the alarm to be sounded at a predetermined pressure,indicated by said secondary index-hand, substan tially as described.

7. The combination,with a Bourdon steamgage, of an alarm, a primaryindex-hand-to indicate the varying pressure of the steam, a secondaryindex-hand to designate the point at which the alarm shall be sounded,means for connecting the primary index-hand with the stean1-gagetube,andmeans operated from said expansible tube for releasing the strikingmechanism of the alarm, whereby the expansion and contraction of saidtube will control the sounding of the alarm, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

A. PORTILLO.

\Vitn esses:

JAMEs L. NoRRis, JAMES A. RUTHERFORD.

